TV
HBO Offers First Look at The Last of Us TV Series: Watch
HBO has revealed the first look at The Last of Us, its upcoming episodic series based on the popular video game franchise of the same name. Set for release in 2023, the 10-episode first season stars Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, and Nick Offerman. Released on PlayStation in 2013, The Last of Us is among the most critically acclaimed blockbusters in the history of the video game medium, with a Metacritic rating of 95 out of 100 and over 20 million units sold. It’s set 20 years after the zombie apocalypse, when the Infected roam freely and most survivors live in heavily policed militarized zones. One smuggler, a bereaved father named Joel (Pascal), is tasked with helping 14-year-old orphan Ellie (Ramsey) to reach a mysterious group called the Fireflies. While Ellie herself i...
House of the Dragon Star Paddy Considine on Why It’s Tough to Be King
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon, Season 1 Episode 1, “The Heirs of the Dragon.”] Game of Thrones was a show that, as its title indicated, had a lot to do with the battle for power. But the king we meet in the House of the Dragon pilot, King Viserys Targaryen, has a complicated relationship with his place as ruler. “There’s a part of Viserys that wishes Rhaenys would have been named and not him,” star Paddy Considine says. “I don’t think it’s a responsibility, I think he was happy to get it, but then there’s a sense of ‘Oh god, why me?’ I think he’s a guy who’s damned, no matter what, by his duty. As he says to Rhaenyra, ‘[The Iron Throne] is the most dangerous seat in the room.’” House of the Dragon might take place within the very well-establi...
HBO Shares New Teaser for The Weeknd’s Upcoming Drama Series The Idol: Watch
HBO has shared another teaser for The Idol, the upcoming series from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and The Weeknd. The pop star also appears in the show as a self-help guru who pursues a relationship with a rising pop star, played by Lily-Rose Depp. While this preview doesn’t explain much in terms of the show’s plot, Euphoria fans will easily pick up on Levinson’s vivid, high-drama style (and the omnipresence of sex). In the clip, we see bits and pieces of Depp’s character’s lavish Hollywood lifestyle — namely a nightclub that appears to be a central aspect of the show’s plot. Perhaps even more exciting are some of the new cast members who are revealed in the trailer. Considering The Idol centers around a pop star, it’s not too surprising that a few real-...
Controversial Bluey Episode About Farting Coming to Disney+
Earlier this month, Disney+ added the first half of Season 3 of the Australian kids show Bluey to its library — minus one episode entitled “Family Meeting.” Following some blowback, the streamer has decided to add the episode, whose fart-centric plot didn’t initially meet Disney’s broadcast standards, to its catalog after all. Bluey follows the antics of a family of red and blue heelers. In the 2021 episode “Family Meeting,” the titular blue heeler accuses her dad, Bandit, of “fluffing” (or farting) in her face, prompting her mom, Chilli, to lead a faux trial to determine who’s telling the truth. Disney originally decided that the episode was unfit to air on the Disney Junior channel, but a spokesperson recently told Pirates and Princesses that “Family Meeting” would, in fac...
Gary Busey Charged with Multiple Sexual Offenses at Horror Convention
Actor Gary Busey has been charged with multiple sexual offenses stemming from incidents that took place last weekend (August 12th-14th) at Monster-Mania Con in New Jersey. The 78-year-old Busey was a special guest at the convention at the Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. According to a press release posted on Saturday (August 20th) by the Cherry Hill Police Department, Busey was charged on Friday (August 19th) with two counts of criminal sexual contact (4th degree); one count of criminal attempt / criminal sexual contact (4th degree); and one count of harassment (disorderly persons offense). The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Busey allegedly groped at least two victims, resulting in the aforementioned charges. “It was about contact,” said Cherry Hill Township Police Lt. Rob...
Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal Renewed for Second Season
HBO is shelving a lot of its original content as of late, but fortunately those cost cutting measures won’t impact Nathan Fielder’s brilliant series, The Rehearsal. Ahead of tonight’s season one finale, HBO has handed down a season two order for The Rehearsal. Not surprisingly, the network didn’t offer any sort of preview of what Fielder might have in story, because even they are in the dark. “We have no idea where season 2 will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary pushing show from a truly singular talent,” said Amy Gravitt, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, in a statement. Advertisement Related Video In our review of the early episodes of The Rehearsal’s first season, Robert Ham said the show cemented Fielder’s status as a comic visionary. “There aren’t many shows, ...
25 Best Dragons on Screen, Ranked
You know what a dragon is when you see one. Sometimes, it might be the very last thing you see. Whether they’re laying waste to fictional countrysides, defending the world from cataclysmic events, or just being the best friend of young heroes, dragons have an immense and immediate impact on whatever fantasy world to which they belong — and whether they’re good, evil, or as neutral as Switzerland when it comes to the conflicts of men, they’re always a fascinating addition to any narrative. Our inspiration for looking back over decades of film and television to select the greatest dragons ever seen on screen is, of course, directly tied to the upcoming launch of two new tentpole series: The Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon and Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings ...
Dan Levy Joins Cast of Sex Education Season 4
Sex Education classes are almost back in session, and this time around, Dan Levy will be teaching a class of his own. Netflix has announced that the Schitt’s Creek star has joined the cast of the series for Season 4. The addition of the breakout comedian is just one of many changes in the Sex Ed world. When the show last ended, Moordale Secondary was shut down, Maeve (Emma Mackey) accepted an offer to study in the United States, and pretty much every star of the show became a breakout actor in their own right. In Season 4, Levy plays Thomas Molloy, a famous author who serves as Maeve’s US course tutor. Thaddea Graham (Doctor Who), Marie Reuther (Kamikaze), Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Alexandra James, and Imani Yahshua are also joining the show’s cast. Advertisement ...
Echoes Review: A Fascinating Story Gets Undermined by a Thirst for Twists
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Echoes, “Falls.”] The Pitch: What if two adult identical twins swapped places every year, unbeknownst to everyone in their lives? Such is the premise of Netflix’s Echoes, a show that opens on a shrewd and successful author named Gina (Michelle Monaghan), who lives an exceedingly normal life in an austere Los Angeles mansion with her doting therapist husband, Charlie (Daniel Sunjata). Living in Mount Echo, a modest farm town halfway across the country, is Gina’s identical twin sister, Leni, a ranch owner with a hearty southern drawl and permanently braided hair. Every year on their birthday, Gina and Leni switch places for a year, unbeknownst to anyone else: From their accents to their devoted husbands to Leni’s ...
HBO Max Removes Over 200 Classic Sesame Street Episodes
In an apparent bid to save money on residuals, Warner Bros. Discovery has been removing content from HBO Max. The process began earlier this month with the unceremonious removal of dozens of HBO Max original series and movies such as Vinyl and Camping, and An American Pickle; earlier this week, another 36 titles disappeared from the platform. Now, in an especially egregious affront to parents of young children, WBD has removed over 200 classic Sesame Street episodes from HBO Max’s library, without warning. HBO Max became the exclusive home of Sesame Street in 2019; in addition to producing new episodes, the streamer hosts the show’s 50-plus-year library. But as Tough Pigs points out, as of Friday morning, HBO Max’s Sesame Street archive is suddenly barren. Of the 250 episodes from the firs...
House of the Dragon Review: A Beautifully-Made History Lesson From an Ugly Fictional World
The Pitch: Perhaps you are a carbon-based life form with an Internet connection and/or cable TV subscription, and thus are aware of the existence of a little show called Game of Thrones, which for a few years there was pretty dang popular. Well, here’s some more of it! Specifically, here is House of the Dragon, HBO’s prequel/spinoff that does not involve Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but does hope to capture the imagination of an ever-fickle viewing public. To that end, we return to King’s Landing 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen (House of the Dragon is very specific on this point), where Daenerys’ ancestors still hold the very familiar-looking Iron Throne. Though we begin with the line of succession in flux, as a ruler without heirs has to make a choice...
New Mexico’s Breaking Bad Statues Draw Ire of Republicans Already Fuzzy on Fact vs. Fiction
Prominent conservatives have spent more than a year trying to convince themselves that Trump won the 2020 election, so it’s no surprise that the fictional, morally-gray world of Breaking Bad presents an intellectual obstacle course. After Albuquerque, New Mexico erected statues of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, Republican politicians, regional talk radio hosts, and now Fox News have tried to frame this mildly amusing tourist trap as a capital-T Threat to America. The statues were commissioned by Sony Pictures Television without the aid of taxpayer money and unveiled at the end of July. Democrat mayor Tim Keller touted the $400 million in production fees and tourism dollars that Breaking Bad had already invested in the Albuquerque community. “While the stories might be ficti...
